PK Subban

It’s far too early to start talking about must-win games for the Chicago Blackhawks, but if you wanted a reason to panic, tonight’s game could be as good a game as any.

The Hawks are coming off of a brutal shutout at home against the bottom-of-the-division Winnipeg Jets and have dropped three of their last four games. They could really use a win to get some mojo back on a team that’s struggled in the goal department as of late.

Some things just seem destined to happen and that was certainly the case on Sunday night. It was only fitting that Marty St. Louis would be the Ranger that got the game winning goal in overtime to propel his team to within one game of the Stanley Cup Final.

Anyone that has been following the Eastern Conference Final knows that the Rangers are just on a surreal trip powered by the emotional engine of their right winger.

Going into this series most people would have thought that the Canadiens came flying into the series off of emotions after beating their dreaded rival Bruins. The problem is they have run into a team that is riding a wave that simply won’t subside. The Hab...

The Chicago Blackhawks will face another Original Six team on Saturday night as they play the Canadiens at the Bell Centre in Montréal.

Last year, the Canadiens completely missed the playoffs and languished near the bottom of the league for most of the shortened season. This year, the team has turned around completely: with a 25-15-5 record and 55 points, they're sitting at third in the Atlantic division. They have a strong penalty kill - 3rd best in the league, at 86.3%.

Additionally, eight Habs will be representing their home country in the Olympics: Carey Price and P.K. Subban for Canada; Andrei Markov and Alexei Emelin for Russia; Max Pacioretty for the U.S....

The Flyers travel to Montreal in hopes of ending their four-game losing streak. It won't be easy though because Montreal is a great home team as well as looking to lock up second place in the Eastern Conference.

Erol Bal returns to The Hot Seat with his wishlist of players that the Islanders can and should go after to help solidify there spot for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. From Dany Heatley to Jaromir Jagr on offense to PK Subban and Jay Bouwmeester on the blue line, Erol gives his thoughts on why Garth should make an attempt to land a few people to send the Islanders over the edge in the Atlantic Division.

On Tuesday night, the New York Islanders took the ice with a new found confidence. This new beaming attitude carried over from their shoot out win against Ottawa on Sunday.

It would be a stretch to say that the home woes are in the past completely. However, there is optimism among the fan base after stringing together two impressive wins at the Coliseum over teams from Canada.

The most promising feature of Tuesday's game had to be the energy that the players exhibited. There was a jump in their step and the Isles kept the pressure on all night long. The Isles' excellent game could be captured in one picture of Casey Cizikas dumping his Montreal foe into the New York bench.

All six shared one thing in common -- not a single one of them were drafted by the Flyers.

In fact, the Flyers have a consistent issue with things like that. Since the lost season of 2004-05, the Flyers have not gotten more than 150 games played from a defensemen they drafted and only one home grown defensemen has played more than 200 games in a Flyers uniform since that time, Randy Jones, an undrafted defender.

The Montreal Canadiens have historically been the flagship franchise of the National Hockey League. Over the years the Canadiens have amassed a record 24 Stanley Cups, and those responsible for all those Championships have been rightfully honoured - you can find the names of 61 people associated with the club in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Despite all of that success over the years, somewhere along the line that tradition of winning went away. While the prospect of adding number 25 excited many of the Habs faithful in 2010, the fact remains that “Les Glorieux” haven't been able to win it all in two decades. In an attempt to change that, the Canadien...